Quote:
Originally Posted by jwb
I think I've mentioned this before but I've seen this sort of forum schism over management twice before. In both cases the new forum seemed to inject some life at first but then eventually both resumed declining into obscurity. But they also both basically destroyed the user bases of the original forums as well.
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Of course, those other schism forums didn't have me and Trollheart as admins.
The challenge of growth over time is very real for forums. MB is obviously fighting a losing battle here with active user numbers that have, on average, dwindled for years and years. MB has the google ranking so that people stumble across it, but lacks the ability to integrate new members into the community and/or to keep people interested over time. You can always find examples of newcomers staying, but the overall trend is that activity is dying off.
The people who could slow or turn around that slide into obscurity don't seem interested. Perhaps they don't see the problem or are well-versed in denial. Maybe they have accepted that it's a lost cause or that it isn't worth the investment. We're left with neglect which just makes a bad situation a little worse. Simple things like updates are actually important. Who's championing them?
For SCD, the situation will be different. It doesn't have google ranking so people will stumble over it, so more than anything it needs to have that staying power; that newcomers are integrated well into the community and that people who are part of it don't leave.
I believe the best way to achieve that, besides having a decent amount of activity, is to create a feeling of community - to make something that actually helps create meaningful connections between people. That means you should feel welcome and respected. You should be able to safely share things. When you make an effort to write something, there should be others who see that and welcome that effort. When you're dealing with some sh
it, you have friends online you can turn to and who see you. Maybe when you play an online game or just chat, you do that with friends from your online community.
Some get those things on MB, but there is little here outside of regular members to help nurture it and there's good reason to believe also these things are dying. From a management point of view, I don't think you can just neglect a community and expect those things to sort themselves out. I think you have to work to achieve it and, if achieved, that you then have to work constantly at maintaining it. I could be wrong, but I don't see any clear evidence of these sort of issues being on anyone's agenda here. The admins should be regularly discussing these sort of things with the mod team. Where are they?
So instead it's a bit like discussing global warming. You have a lot of deniers and a bunch of people who see the problem, but think there's nothing to do about it. What's worse is for MB, they might be right.
At least me and Trollheart have a rough idea of what the challenges are. We strategize and make goals and plans to deal with them. We have an ability to adapt, accommodate and nurture the community that you won't find on an ancient, static vbulletin. And hopefully, we'll also have help from the other people in our burgeoning community to achieve the above.